


Brave New World

by Valkyrien



Series: New World Order [1]
Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: Apocalyptic Feelings Bootcamp, Because They Deserve To And They Can, Everybody Falls In Love With Everybody, Everybody Lives, Except The Villains But They Totally Deserved It So Hurrah, F/M, Flirting, Motorcycle Jousting, Multi, Nobody Dies, Relearning Personhood And Discovering Positive Interpersonal Connections, Romance, Suck It Joe You Dead Bastard, The Surviving All Get To Have New Lives And It's Fantastic, it's all here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-12 16:00:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4485849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valkyrien/pseuds/Valkyrien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This work is the result of this Mad Max Kinkmeme prompt:</p><p>'War Boys live AU. Nux and Capable are together and disgustingly happy. It inspires a bunch of other War Boys to attempt to woo the other Wives. Hilarity ensues because their attempts at flirting are bizarre and/or inept.'</p><p>It is worth noting that due to my inability to write anything that does not include a hefty dose of worldbuilding and emotional examination, hilarity does ensue here but within a framework allowing for extensive worldbuilding and the emotional growth of all involved which is then examined intensely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For more fun, I highly recommend visiting the discussions had on the thread itself, as these are both insightful and highly entertaining. It can be found here:
> 
> http://madmaxkink.dreamwidth.org/1730.html?thread=1157314#cmt1157314

  
   
   
    In the time after the Reclaiming, there was simply too much to do, for it was as the name suggested - a Reclaiming. Of Lives, of Space, of Time - for Everyone.  
  
  
    The Sisters and Furiosa, once Raised, immediately ordered The Great Salvage - a recovery of everyone who had been led into the waste for an old man's lies, and all the resources spent on the Chase.  
  
  
    “All Lives have Meaning!” Capable had blazed from the platform, addressing them all, saluting the remaining War Boys with the symbol of their devotion and pointing to them,  
  
  
    “Even yours! We will leave no one to die alone in the waste - we will Salvage and then we will Build! We will bring our Boys Home!”  
  
  
    Whether the strength of her passion or the power of what had until then been heresy was what enflamed them, the Sisters were not sure, but the corpse of Joe was hung from the very skull-carved platform from which he had once doled out his lies and precious water as cruelly as possible, and the remaining War Boys mobilised upon the Word of Capable, putting their full effort behind the grandest salvage crew that could be mustered. They were on the road within the hour.  
  
  
    Only through this quick action did they manage to save so many - Bodies first, on Capable's Orders, from the worst of the wreckage beginning at the War Rig and then fanning out and back.  
  
  
    “Every Life is Valuable,” Capable called from her perch atop the Gigahorse driven by Toast, surveying the scramble to Save,  
  
  
    “We cannot Rebuild if there is no one to help us - we need all of you! Salvage your Brothers first - we will return for everything else!”  
  
  
    Her Words had spurred them on, planting seeds of hope, of half-belief that perhaps it could be real, perhaps she Cared. Perhaps there could be More than what there had been, they whispered to themselves, hardly daring to believe.  
  
  
    Not until they managed to pry open a service compartment in the War Rig and climb into what was left of the internals to find Nux, curled inside the hold unconscious but still breathing, were the Boys shown Full Proof that Capable's words were True.  
  
  
    Her tears were Real. The Blood she immediately sacrificed for this broken War Boy was Real. She held him in her arms and praised the Boys who found him and thanked the stars and the skies and the earth for sparing him for Something Great after all.  
  
  
    Capable who Cares was Real, was True, the cry went up, and the Boys redoubled their efforts to find Life in the wreckage.  
  
  
    “Capable the Caring - give them Back to her!” they called down the lines, carrying their Brothers by twos and fours.  
  
  
    They saved many, that day, and brought back those Boys who could not be saved in Honour, to lay them out for The Dag in the Garden so that they could Serve one last time.  
  
  
    “I will grant them true Eternal Life, such as they'd never seen to dream of,” Dag whispered, as trenches were dug to lay them in, closing the eyes of each one where needed and slipping a seed into each mouth that would never speak again. When they were lowered into the readied Earth Dag had decided upon, she prayed, and the War Pups who stood by her and watched, who sorted the clothes and tools and things from each body into piles to be cleaned and fixed and re-used, laid down their burdens and raised their hands to copy her movements, to whisper as she whispered.  
  
  
    “Let them Live, let them Grow, let us Live. We Live, we Die, we Live again.”  
  
  
    Toast the Knowing took over the Salvage from Capable once there was no more Life or Once-Life to Reclaim from the wreckage, going back for everything else, driving the Gigahorse with bullet-belts strung across her chest, with New Orders and New Words for the Boys who accompanied her.  
  
  
    “Take everything you see on the way - every bullet, every boot - fix the Rigs that can be fixed quick here and load them, too. We need to be Ready. We will be Stronger this time.”  
  
  
    Within two days there was nothing left where once there had been nothing but twisted metal and blood.  
  
  
    “Toast the Knowing,” the cry went out among the Boys,  
  
  
    “Bullet Queen! First Driver!”  
  
  
    In that time, Cheedo the Fragile, with the now-freed Milk Mothers and Vuvalini still-walking at her back, took over what was once the Organic Mechanic's domain, joined by Capable once all surviving War Boys had been Brought Home, and began putting them all back together.  
  
  
    The Boys too sick to join the War Party or the Great Salvage had cringed from Cheedo when she brought the light in, the Boys and Pups apprenticed to the Organic Mechanic not knowing what to do and cowering away.  
  
  
    “I am here to Help you all,” Cheedo had told them,  
  
  
    “So that we can all Help your Brothers when they're Brought Home. My hands are new at this, but I want to learn. I want to Help you. So tell me - what do you need?”  
  
  
    “Water and blood,” the eldest apprentice had challenged, not believing her or the offer, and Cheedo had smiled and asked,  
  
  
    “How much?”  
  
  
    “Enough for us and anyone who comes Back,” he'd replied, wary of having answered too presumptuously, not truly believing anyone would be coming Back at all, and Cheedo had nodded and stepped forward, letting the Mothers behind her file in and start handing out water from the containers at their sides.  
  
  
    “Free the People in the cages, and help them, too. Blood and Water will be given freely to you and those who return, from now on - no one is a Thing to be used anymore. If you need anything else, ask me, and if we have it to give and it can Help, you'll have it. I'm here to Help, and to Learn,” she told them.  
  
  
    When the first wave of damaged Boys were brought in, Capable among them with Nux, Cheedo calmly sat down by his side, and said to the apprentice flitting about like a shadow on the wall,  
  
  
    “I am a universal donor. Hook me up and tell me how else to Help him. He Saved us so we could come back and Save you all.”  
  
  
    They saved almost every Boy who was Brought Home, and Cheedo the Fragile gave herself and her Time to every one of them, and her tears to those who did not Live.  
  
  
    “Cheedo the Giver,” hoarse, damaged whispers went round,  
  
  
    “Mother-Bringer, Sister of Boys!”  
  
  
    So the time of the Reclaiming was its own Trial - a Time of Healing and Death and Life and New Truth and Words, and the Life-Blood of the Boys flowing sluggishly through the veins of the Citadel as everyone struggled to change course together.  
  
  
    More than a hundred days were needed to Heal the most damaged, days which they spent cared for by Cheedo and Capable and the Mothers, who told them the New Truth and held them when it was hard to Learn.  
  
  
    Days which Dag spent teaching the Pups how to pray with her over the precious green things they had Planted in the Silent Field and how to care for the green things already growing in the upper levels.  
  
  
    Days which Toast spent with Furiosa, and Valkyrie once she healed, helping them to Rebuild, even driving out to meet emissaries from Gastown and the Bullet Farm, now leaderless, asking for New Trade Agreements, which Toast and Valkyrie brokered in Furiosa's stead since she could not leave the Citadel still wounded, too vulnerable. And so the Bullet Queen and The Valkyrie rode out together, flanked by Boys both freshly-healed and who had Served in the Great Salvage, ready to die for them and the New Truth they had been given.  
   
   
    There was no need. Not a single shot was fired. The Agreements went smoothly, on neutral ground on the Fury Road, and riding back Toast and Valkyrie called to their New Life War Boys,  
  
  
    “What a day - what a lovely day!”  
  
  
    So more than a hundred lovely days of Healing, of Truth, and of Rebuilding, and more than a hundred again for things to become The Way and not The New Way, and a hundred more for the Sisters to start realising that the War Boys were behaving oddly, even by their standards.  
   
   
  



	2. Chapter 2

 

 

 

   It begins with little things - quite literally.  
  
  
    One of the War Boys whom Cheedo sat with while his wreckage-burns were healing and told the Truth to sidles up to her a few days after he's been declared completely healed and sent back to work, and presses a smooth, blue stone into her hand, careful as can be.  
  
  
    “It's for you,” he tells her quietly, shifting back to a respectful distance, and Cheedo turns the stone in her hands and smiles because she isn't quite sure what else to do.  
  
  
    “Thank you, it's... very pretty,” she says kindly,  
  
  
    “Are you feeling all better?”  
  
  
    “Yes, Sister Cheedo, thank you, much better,” he says, all in a rush, and then practically runs away.  
  
  
    She tells the others about it when they eat together later, and shows them the stone, and they agree it's very pretty but have no more idea than she as to why she's been given it seemingly to keep. Still, she puts it away safely on a little ledge above her bed so she can admire it.  
  
  
    “One of the Boys gave Cheedo a pretty stone today,” Capable tells Nux later, when he returns from working on the salvaged wreck of his car and sits down beside her to put his head in her lap, and he beams up at her.  
  
  
    “Who? What kind of stone?” he asks, and Capable strokes his head gently and shrugs.  
  
  
    “I don't know who - one of the Boys Cheedo treated after the Salvage. He's all better now, and he gave Cheedo a shiny blue stone. We're not sure why - we think maybe he was grateful to her for helping when he was injured - but it was very sweet of him,” she says, and Nux looks up at her with wide eyes and asks,  
  
  
    “Did she like it?”  
  
  
    “Yes - she's put it in her room.”  
  
  
    “That's good,” he sighs, closing his eyes and clutching Capable's ankle lightly.  
  
  
    Cheedo comes back the next day to eat with them after working and says she has something to show them, produces five little stones from her pocket, and lines them up for her Sisters to inspect.  
  
  
    “I like that one,” Dag says, pointing to a milky-white half-circle stone,  
  
  
    “Did it come from the moon?”  
  
  
    “They're all from Boys,” Cheedo explains, frowning,  
  
  
    “Blot gave me that one like the moon. They're all really pretty but I don't understand why they want me to have them.”  
  
  
    “If they're all from Boys you treated, maybe they're just grateful,” Toast suggests, and then turns to Capable,  
  
  
    “Did you tell Nux about the other one?”  
  
  
    “Yes - he just said it was good that Cheedo liked it,” Capable tells them, and Toast shrugs as if that's the end of that then.  
  
  
    “I do like them,” Cheedo hastens to confirm,  
  
  
    “I just wish I knew why they're giving them to me.”  
  
  
    “If it happens again, ask,” Toast instructs, and then announces,  
  
  
    “I'll ask Slit if giving stones means something to War Boys. He's giving me another lesson later.”  
  
  
    “How's that going?” Capable asks, enthused, and Toast smiles.  
  
  
    “I'm getting better,” she says happily,  
  
  
    “Slit says I just need to work on my range now.”  
  
  
    “How is Slit taking his promotion?” Capable teases, and Toast rolls her eyes.  
  
  
    “I didn't promote him - nobody did - the Boys just decided he's First Lancer now because Nux asked me to put him on my team since he's the best we've got and Nux doesn't have a car yet. I don't think Slit really cares what anyone calls him as long as he gets to go on runs,” she says, mildly irritated, and Capable laughs.  
  
  
    “And how is he adjusting? I know he and Nux are alright again, but is he working well with you now?” she asks, interested, and Toast lifts a shoulder carelessly.  
  
  
    “I think once Nux is back on the road, Slit will want to ride with him again - they were partners for a long time, they work well together,” Toast states simply,  
  
  
    “It's up to him. I won't make him lance for me if he'd rather go back to Nux.”  
  
  
    “Would he still be First Lancer, then, if he's not riding with you anymore?” Cheedo asks, nose wrinkling, and Capable considers this. Toast doesn't, she just grins sharply and says,  
  
  
    “Slit's First Lancer no matter who he rides with - he's the best we've still got, and he's in charge of training the others. He can be First Lancer even if he's not riding with me, he earned it.”  
  
  
    “Oh, good,” Cheedo smiles,  
  
  
    “Because Nux says he is the very best, and I was talking to Cut and he says Slit was always the best, so I think he should be in charge of the lancers. It makes it easier to talk to them if there's someone in charge.”  
  
  
    “I'm glad you're riding with the best,” Capable adds seriously,  
  
  
    “That's why Nux wanted Slit to lance for you.”  
  
  
    “It was a good decision,” Toast agrees, and then rises and assures them,  
  
  
    “I'll ask Slit about the stones, but if he doesn't know and Nux wasn't worried about it yesterday, it's probably just because they're glad to be alive and Cheedo helped.”  
  
  
    “Hmmmm,” Dag murmurs, turning the moon-stone in her fingertips.  
  
  
    “I'll come down with you,” Capable decides, getting up and walking over to link her arm with Toast's,  
  
  
    “I want to get Nux to bed early today, he keeps forgetting to come up when he's working on the car and he's not completely healed yet.”  
  
  
    The Dag rises fluidly as well, and glides over to her Sisters, trailing her fingers over Cheedo's head as she passes, taking Capable's free hand when she reaches her and intoning,  
  
  
    “Someone should fetch in the minstrel to feed the little growths.”  
  
  
    Toast and Capable exchange confused looks behind her back, but Cheedo giggles and enlightens them,  
  
  
    “She means Coma! He's been playing to the Pups before bedtime - some of the Mothers thought it might help settle them after they've eaten. I think it's working!”  
  
  
    “And on all the other little growths and greens,” Dag agrees, and Capable smiles at her sweetly.  
  
  
    “I think it's wonderful,” she lets Dag know, and Toast shuffles her feet irritably and pulls at them both.  
  
  
    “We're leaving!” she insists, and calls over her shoulder to Cheedo before they're out of sight,  
  
  
    “We'll be back after dark - and don't worry about the stones!”  
  
  
    “I'm not worried,” Cheedo says to herself quietly once her Sisters are gone, collecting the pretty little things and carrying them to her room to put with the blue one, stepping back once she has them the way she wants them and admiring the way they lift the drabness of the walls,  
  
  
    “I just wish I knew why I have them.”  
  
  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

 

 

 

   There is always hush when any of the Sisters Descend.  
  
  
    They are saluted and heads are bowed, and there is hush as though the Boys are waiting for orders, or maybe just to hear their voices. Cheedo says the Vuvalini Healers told her after the Salvage that the sleeping damaged can often still hear the voices that speak around them, and so she and the Mothers had spoken the Truth to the Boys in their care while they slept. Cheedo isn't sure it worked, but she saw more than once how it seemed to soothe Boys whose healing sleep grew too restless.  
  
  
    “They need kindness,” Capable had insisted, to Furiosa and to her Sisters,  
  
  
    “No one ever gave them kindness - they don't know it like we did. They never had Mothers, they never had Sisters - all they had were lies. Their minds need as much help as their bodies.”  
  
  
    Their bodies did need a great deal of help, some still do, but they're all mostly healed, now, and work has really begun on their minds. One of the things Cheedo and the Mothers discussed was how to teach the Pups the Truth, and it was one Mother with soft brown eyes who suggested music.  
  
  
    “Babies like singing, maybe it could work for Pups,” she'd said, and Cheedo had nodded, because when The Dag sang in the Field of Silence, the Pups and Boys helping her would sway and be calmed, but the problem became how to give the Pups music and when to do it.  
  
  
    Again, without meaning to, The Dag found the solution - Coma the Doof-Warrior. The Dag had sometimes danced in the Vault to the sound of Coma's playing somewhere in the Citadel when War was afoot, but she brought him to the Field of Silence one evening when the Silence was too Loud, and asked him to play her a prayer to help hers be Heard over the deafening Fear.  
  
  
    Coma isn't just the Voice of War, they all discovered - at Dag's request he showed them all that he can be the Voice of the Citadel, that he can help lift the Truth and give it substance just like Capable's words when she addresses them all from the Platform. At Cheedo's request, Coma sat for the Mothers one day while they sang him all the songs they knew for soothing babies and teaching Words, and now Coma plays them to the Pups every night to help them sleep and Learn.  
  
  
    Toast stays outside the Kennels while Dag and Capable tiptoe inside to fetch Coma, and Capable smiles at the Mother sitting at the far wall with one of the smaller Pups on her lap, and strokes the little foreheads of the Pups she passes.  
  
  
    She and Cheedo have cleaned out the Kennels and put in better lights and more bunks - before, the smallest ones slept in a big pile on the floor while the bigger ones had bunks similar to the ones the Boys have, lining the walls, but Capable and Cheedo were certain it wasn't healthy for such small children to sleep like that, and the change does seem to have helped. The Pups say they're sleeping better with new bunks, and with the music.  
  
  
    Dag walks so softly to stand by Coma's side that her boots barely leave an imprint in the sand, but his fingers trail off into near-silence and he lifts his head to her even though he can't see. Dag leans in to whisper to him, and his terrifying mouth twitches into what Capable now knows is a smile but could as easily be a grimace of pain to anyone who does not know, and Coma rises carefully, sliding his guitar onto his back and reaching for the arms Dag has waiting to steady him. They pass a very small Pup in one of the newer bunks in the middle of the room, and Dag's skirt brushes its little cheek. Capable is ready to dart in and soothe if there's upset, but instead big, bleary eyes blink up and fix on Dag, and the soft little mouth whispers,  
  
  
    “Mother of Earth...”  
  
  
    Coma ducks his head as if he's afraid Dag might strike him when she leans across him and down to the little Pup, making a sign across its tiny forehead and breathing,  
  
  
    “Be blessed.”  
  
  
    The little eyes close, and Dag straightens, taking hold of Coma's arm again and leading him out. Capable waves to the Mother who is watching over them, and hastens to join her Sisters, not sure what she just witnessed, but in the hall outside the Kennels, Dag is standing with both hands either side of Coma's face and her forehead pressed to his, murmuring softly to him.  
  
  
    Toast gives Capable a look to indicate her displeasure, although at precisely what Capable isn't sure, and Capable turns to give Dag and Coma their moment, her ears straining but unable to catch more than Coma's quiet, sweet,  
  
  
    “... Chrome Lady...” and Dag's sharp laugh.  
  
  
    “We're leaving,” she raises her voice to Toast and Capable,  
  
  
    “The other little growths need their music.”  
  
  
    Toast nods and lifts her hand to Dag who retreats down the hall with Coma in tow, and then turns on Capable and hisses,  
  
  
    “What was that? Did you know about that?”  
  
  
    “I don't think it's a 'that',” Capable frowns,  
  
  
    “Are you worried? You know how happy Dag was when we Salvaged him. She thought there'd be no more music in the world without him. I think she's just glad he's still here and we've found a place for him.”  
  
  
    Toast says nothing but her grunt is sceptical at best, and they continue down towards the Garage arm in arm but in silence.  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

  
  
  
  
    There is never a time when the Garage is not alive with noise and activity - rush-jobs and Boy-projects and night-shifts and late-drills mean that there are always Boys in the Garage, there is always a place to go and be useful if sleep won't come easy.  
  
  
    In the Garage, even the Hush is slow to spread - Rev-Heads and Black Thumbs too lost in their machines to notice that Sisters are among them mean that it takes longer for nudges and yells to alert everyone, for the calls to echo deep enough to reach every Boy present, to leave time for tools to be lowered and precarious balancing acts to be secured and welding torches to be turned off in the face of potentially imminent orders.  
  
  
    Toast likes the Hush - likes that her Voice will be given Room, likes the Respect, likes that she is Recognised - and she likes that she is Seen here, that the Boys listen to her, that they're calm and waiting, like a weapon primed for her hand.  
  
  
    Capable likes the Garage the way it is normally, without the Hush of Descent, likes that it takes longer here because all their lovely Boys are so focused, driving so hard, pushing themselves to push their machines and repair their world. Toast says it's because her Boy is rubbing off more than grease on her, and maybe it's a little bit that, but Capable mostly just loves how, well, capable the Boys are in this place. That this is where they build and create, when for so long she and her sisters only knew them as a destructive force. This is where they prove their worth, where they work for everyone.  
  
  
    They don't just build and repair vehicles in the Garage, they build and repair everything else, too. To Capable, it is the Heart of the Citadel.  
  
  
    The cries and murmurs reverberate around the walls like so many purring engines, and Toast and Capable raise their hands to salute the Boys as they approach them, Capable raising her Voice to call,  
  
  
    “Good Evening Boys!”  
  
  
    Beside her, Toast lowers her arms and rests them on her holsters - one either side of her hips, belts always strung across her chest like on her first Salvage ride, and she smiles into the cavern as the Boys in the Garage chorus as one,  
  
  
    “Evening Sisters!”  
  
  
    This is something Capable has taught them - day-greetings to help space out Time and remind them to eat and sleep and change shifts. It's taken a while to impress upon them that while it is commendable that they are so driven, the Sisters do not want any Boys running themselves into the ground to finish something as fast as they can. Of course Cheedo would never turn away a Boy come to the Medical Bay heat-tired or plain run-down after working too hard too long, but if possible, the Sisters would rather it not be necessary to treat those things.  
  
  
    It's also taken a while to make the Boys understand that when the Sisters say that, they don't mean that Boys who do it anyway and then need treatment will be punished for not taking better care of themselves - Capable had to Tell them that from the Platform before they'd listen right, that there's no sense punishing Boys who run themselves so hard they blow out for doing that in the first place when the overall Goal is for all the Boys to be in best possible Working Order. There'd been a lot of Boys before she Told them who'd just drag themselves to their bunks and wait out the problems rather than go to Cheedo and admit to disobeying orders and being unwell because of it.  
  
  
    A lot of those were the newly-healed Boys Brought Back desperate to prove that they could be of use to the Sisters and Furiosa - too redeem themselves and make up for the Lost Time of Lies - afraid of being discarded as useless after so many resources had been spent putting them back together after the Salvage if they didn't Earn it as quickly as possible.  
  
  
    Capable had to Tell them that, too - that the Lies were not their fault, and that they do not need to fear that they will be shredded or discarded if they don't make up for it, and for the effort of the Sisters and Mothers in healing them, within a certain number of Days.  
  
  
    Capable remembers that it wasn't easy, and how the Boys who thought that they needed to Earn the lives they'd been given had been shocked to find that this was not the case - how they had been so grateful and then so distressed that Sister Cheedo had wept to be told that they had believed that she was counting down the Days for each of them to Earn their New Time back in, to earn the rations of water and blood spent on their brokenness.  
  
  
    “She poured out her Heart,” they'd wailed,  
  
  
    “We can't give it back! There's not enough Time!”  
  
  
    “You don't have to give it back,” Capable had Told them, strong and firm,  
  
  
    “You just have to take Care of it now that you have it - that's all we ask! Be well, and protect yourselves and the Time you've been given, the Lives you have now, so that you can all help us Rebuild and protect what we have now!”  
  
  
    They've gotten a lot better at Understanding what the Sisters mean by 'take Care', and Spacing Time like this has helped them remember that now they actually have rations of food and water to go and collect more than once a day, and that the New Order is for them to rest at night if they can, and to go to the Medical Bay if they have a problem so that it can be fixed before it gets worse.  
  
  
    Cheedo, after conferring with Nux and Stitch, the Organic Mechanic's eldest apprentice, now refers to it as Tune-Ups, to make it easier for the Boys to accept.  
  
  
    “Just like the cars,” she'd said from the Platform, nervous but impassioned,  
  
  
    “Your bodies stutter and stall without Tune-Ups, and we don't want that! We want you all running smooth as can be, and if you're not, come to us so we can Help - there are no Spare Parts for Boys! We need to catch problems quick - that's what Tune-Ups are for!”  
  
  
    It's helping, it's all helping, and they've gotten so much better. Capable is proud of them, and she Knows her Sisters are proud of them, too.  
  
  
    It's just unfortunate that Nux is such a bad example when it comes to remembering to take a break, because now that he is Nux the Raised, a lot of the Boys have been modelling their behaviour on his, and Nux would sleep in the Garage only after working himself into the ground if no one ever came to get him out.  
  
  
    It's also unfortunate that with his new status among the Boys, they're a little wary of telling him anything lest it be construed as a challenge or an attempt at ordering him about, so not only do they leave him to it once he starts working and make no effort to alert him to things like meal-times, but they also don't make an effort to tell him specifically when the Sisters are in the Garage, and if no one tells him directly, he doesn't notice the Hush or anything but the car under his hands until Capable or one of the others is standing right beside him speaking his Name. Sometimes Capable sends Pups for him, because if that's what they've been asked to do, their single-minded focus on that trumps their awe of Nux' position, but this has been known to backfire when Nux allows them to just gather round and help restore his car - he sends them for parts and lets them hand him things - then Capable finds them all hours later around the vehicle in raptures at being So Very Useful to Nux.  
  
  
    And so Capable makes her way into the bowels of the Garage , nodding to the Boys she passes and exclaiming over the projects she recognises that have made progress since she last saw them, working her way inward to where Nux is busy.  
  
  
    Toast takes a different approach, less talkative, but she does nod approvingly at the Boys similarly to Capable, and she calls out,  
  
  
    “Safe day, Boys?”  
  
  
    “No accidents!” comes the proud chorus, and she salutes them, replying,  
  
  
    “Well done!”  
  
  
    This is their signal to kick back into full gear, still aware of the Sisters in their midst, but Understanding that if they are needed they will be called upon and that it's permissible to return their collective attention to the tasks at hand.  
  
  
    “Nux?” Capable calls once she's close enough to the car, sliding a hand over the smooth metal of the back and peering around to find whatever bits of her Boy don't fit in the space he's fixing,  
  
  
    “Nux?”  
  
  
    “Capable!” he exclaims happily, popping out from underneath the blocked-up vehicle and scrambling up as fast as he can on the leg that's still mending.  
  
  
    “Evening, Sweet Boy,” she smiles, reaching for him, and he ineffectually scrubs his filthy hands over his equally filthy trousers and lets her draw him into an embrace, kissing her cheek soundly. Behind them, Toast rolls her eyes and smiles a little, amused by how some of the Boys close by are still astounded at the ease with which Nux touches Capable, how affectionate she is with him, goggling at the spectacle like they're afraid to be caught looking but can't stop.  
  
  
    “It's late, Nux, you've been here all day,” Capable chides, sliding under his arm and propping him up a little, stroking his ribs because she's just so glad they're not sore and broken anymore.  
  
  
    “I'm sorry,” Nux tells her sincerely, then brightens,  
  
  
    “But I remembered to eat - Slit brought me something Green!”  
  
  
    “Really? Something new? What was it?” Capable asks, and Nux shrugs and gestures with his free hand.  
  
  
    “It had little flaps - he said Dag sent it down for road-testing, but it was already cut up so I don't know how it looks all new,” he attempts description, and Capable beams at him.  
  
  
    “We'll have to ask her later,” she says easily,  
  
  
    “I'm glad you've eaten. Are you ready to go Up?”  
  
  
    “Ready!” he confirms, and lets Capable lead him off by the hand and tell him,  
  
  
    “We're taking Toast down for her lessons first, though. Oh - and Cheedo got some more little stones today!”  
  
  
    “From Boys?” Nux asks, wrinkling his nose, and Toast nods, bringing up the rear.  
  
  
    “Yes,” she says shortly,  
  
  
    “We still don't know what it means.”  
  
  
    “Were they pretty too?” Nux asks with interest, trying on what is clearly still an unfamiliar word, and Capable nods.  
  
  
    “Very shiny - one of them looked just like the Moon! Dag liked that one best,” she shares, and Nux looks thoughtful.  
  
  
    “Dag likes the Moon?” he ventures, and Toast pulls a face.  
  
  
    “And apparently she likes Coma, too,” she grumbles, and Nux nods sagely.  
  
  
    “I know. Pups told me,” he informs them, and Toast makes a sound not unlike the ones Slit makes when irritated. Capable smothers a giggle.  
  
  
    “Why does everyone know about that except me?” Toast complains loudly, making a Boy to her right jump out of her way even though she wasn't even within touching range, and Nux glances at her in concern.  
  
  
    “Thought you knew, all of you,” he mumbles apologetically, ducking his head,  
  
  
    “He's been making new songs to teach the Pups all about you, so they'll know you better, know the Stories. He plays them for Dag before the Pups get to hear 'em. Is that not good?”  
  
  
    “Oh, that's why that little Pup called Dag a new Name!” Capable realises, then smiles sweetly at Nux and hugs him to her side, reassuring him,  
  
  
    “It's a very good thing, Nux, I promise. Toast is just annoyed she didn't know first.”  
  
  
    “So it's alright?” Nux tests, still a little nervous, turning his head to check with Toast, and she waves him off with a grunt and a little smile.  
  
  
    “It's fine - Dag seems happy, and the Pups need new Stories. Good ones,” Toast allows, and Nux reaches an arm back to scoop Toast into his other side and hug her, too, another thing she allows with playfully begrudging sounds and a laugh.  
  
  
    “Your Stories are the best,” Nux glows at them both, and they hug him close and are too happy to notice how in the renewed cacophony of the Garage they are leaving, the War Boys are watching with rapt attention.  
  
  
  
  



	5. Chapter 5

  
  
  
   The Pits are not what they once were - the New Truth and the Orders to Take Care have necessitated change - but they are not so altered that they are unrecognisable.  
  
  
   The Pits are also far more than the Sisters once thought, in the Before when they had yet to discover that the War Boys are and can be far more, too.  
  
  
   Yes, their primary purpose is violence, but it is not without control or reason. The Pits are for training, for keeping Boys sharp and driven, for keeping them on course and giving them direction, and this is where Pups come to watch their elders train and learn from the watching. It is where lancers strengthen their arms and improve their aim, and where crews are forged into tighter, more cohesive units.  
  
  
   The Pits are also where disputes are handled. The Boys have their own system of governance that has little to nothing to do with what goes on in the Above. Here, grievances among War Boys against War Boys are worked out before they can start jamming the cogs of the Citadel, under the watchful eyes of Imperators or Titled Boys. The fights that result from this are both learning experiences for those who watch them, Pups and Boys alike, and sport. Some fights are more an expression of energy than a solution to any problem between Boys, but these too serve a useful purpose - to help them shift down through the gears when they're revved up too far for the situation or need to take the edge off after War Done.  
  
  
   The Pits have changed to accommodate the Truth and Orders from Above, but this is still the place for Boys to solve their own problems and get Better. Above has its Council Chambers, the Boys have the Pits, and it works.  
  
  
   Toast likes it - she likes this evidence that the Boys, for all they were never Allowed to be People or to own their own minds, were and are still capable of governing themselves, of recognising the need for a real society of their own with its own rules, and of managing it sensibly. This is where she can really see that they were never truly Joe's - that however hard he tried to Own every part of them, to Own and Control People, he couldn't touch their human need to be part of a community, and to regulate it according to their own wishes and requirements once they were.  
  
  
   No matter how hard he worked to make them nothing but mindless battle-fodder utterly dependent on him for their entire sense of self, to permeate every level of their existence with his poison and control, he never truly succeeded, and the Pits are a monument to that. This is where Toast finds the proof of their potential and their collective core of individuality and personality that gives her Hope.  
  
  
   Toast likes the sand that sucks at her boots here, likes the piles of it ready to be thrown over a lancing misfire, likes the lines of white-paint targets scorched and scarred where the Boys have honed themselves. In the same way that Capable feels that the heart of the Citadel is the Garage, Toast feels that this is the Heart of everything, because this is where the Boys work to make themselves better. This is where they proved themselves Better even in the Before.  
  
  
   There is noise here much like there is in the Garage, but it is different - these are not primarily mechanical sounds. These are organic, human sounds. The grunts and thuds of bodies colliding with purpose, with channelled violent intent, the yells of encouragement and advice, the voices discussing technique and experience and how to use them to their best effect, punctuated by the odd sharp yell of a lancer letting loose and the sound of a lance-tip finding its target.  
  
  
   Because of this, and because this is a place more controlled in its entirety at all times than the Garage - the result of the Garage being louder with metal and machines and filled with Boys working on their own things as well as for the ultimate good of the Citadel somehow whereas the Pits are filled with Boys working together on themselves mostly in groups - the Hush is quicker to take.  
  
  
   Not least because the Ace is here tonight, overseeing a training fight between four Boys, what looks to Toast like a set of drivers and lancers, and his goggled eyes see her stride in with Capable and Nux just as the first few Boys notice their arrival, and he barks from his perch,  
  
  
   “All Hold! Sisters!”  
  
  
   The effect is instantaneous.  
  
  
   The fighters wrench apart and pair up, chests heaving, bloodied heads bowed to salute with exertion tugging at their arms and making their muscles twitch.  
  
  
    The watchers turn about-face and focus intently on Toast as one, arms raising, murmuring,  
  
  
    “First Driver...”  
  
  
    Deeper than them, the lancers heft their weapons or stick them into the sand, saluting, heads bowed and eyes following her almost eagerly.  
  
  
    Ace does not move from his perch - no one expects him to, he is the Ace, Furiosa's most trusted still, answers to no one but her anymore - but he salutes as well.  
  
  
    “Evening, Ace,” Toast greets him respectfully, nodding deeply and saluting him,  
  
  
    “Evening, Boys!”  
  
  
    “Evening First Driver!” is the spirited chorus she receives in reply, and she lets it settle in her chest and make her smile, walking further through the ranks.  
  
  
    Standing with the lancers is Slit, his scars and paint singling him out enough that even before Toast and the others could tell one Boy from another he would have been noticeably individual, and as Toast approaches she smiles at him briefly, in anticipation of their lesson.  
  
  
    He returns it guardedly, more respectful reciprocity than anything as gleeful as Toast's own, but when she is close enough that he begins to loom over her without meaning to, he does what he has done since Nux first introduced his lancer to them and suggested him for the job of training Toast, as Nux was yet too injured to even try - Slit drops to his knees.  
  
  
    Toast does not like to be loomed over - she does not like to feel small or as though she could be easily overpowered, and when she first tentatively asked Nux to help train her, within the first hundred days after the Salvage, where he told her that he would be honoured but that he couldn't until he was healed and that would not satisfy Toast's impatience to begin at once, Nux had conferred with Capable on the matter, and with Cheedo regarding Slit's response to the New Truth since the rift between lancer and driver was still too fresh for Nux to gauge Slit's readiness for himself, and then he had presented the idea of Slit as a substitute for himself to Toast.  
  
  
    “Slit's always been real good at trainin' up Pups, an' I know you're not one of them, you're different, but he can do it, I know he can - Slit's the best, he'll help make you the best too,” Nux had assured her, his absolute confidence in his lancer's ability to make Toast as strong and deadly as she desired, despite the fact that Slit still would not speak to Nux, touching something in Toast and giving her the confidence to agree to try it.  
  
  
    Then, for all that Valkyrie had been teaching Toast a little between everything else that needed attention including the recovering Furiosa and Valkyrie's own healing, and for all that the Boys were responding well to the New Truth and had made no move against the Sisters in any way and had taken to their Bullet Queen with a single-minded loyalty, Toast was still afraid of them, knew that she was no match even for the larger Pups, soft and sheltered as she had been in the Vault, with no outlet for her innate fierceness.  
  
  
    Meeting Slit properly, even with Valkyrie and Capable at her back, even with Cheedo's assurance that Nux' lancer had accepted the New Truth, had been a trial - having to ask for help is not something Toast enjoys, especially not when she must ask it of those whom she does not trust completely as yet - not least because the very qualities which make Slit an excellent lancer and which led Nux to recommend him also make him an imposing figure and Toast's memories of nearly being run off the Road by him were still very much at the forefront of her mind.  
  
  
    So Toast had asked, expecting to be turned down, standing some way away to give herself space to breathe and so that she would not have to look up awkwardly like a chastened child at this War Boy who could break her in half if he wanted to, and in reply Slit had sunk to his knees in front of her, saluted, and asked her when she wanted to start.  
  
  
    At the time, she had wondered whether this was some War Boy reverence, like saluting an Imperator, and the thought had made her uneasy because she did not want to be nothing more than a replacement in the minds of the Boys for the figures at the head of the old system, but later after Nux had assured her it was not, she had been certain that it was simply because he could sense her fear and was attempting to allay it by minimising his presence.  
  
  
    Now, Toast Knows that it is something that is for her alone - a gesture that is like the reassuring way the Boys lift the Pups they are all training all the time so that they can be at eye level and See what needs Seeing, but tailored specifically to her.  
  
  
    It is a promise that Slit will not touch her until she is ready, in the way that she has asked to be touched, and for that alone - that he is there to help and teach, but on her terms, recognising her past and her position. It isn't an empty reverence, it's Respect and Understanding, like placing a knife in her hands hilt-first.  
  
  
    It may require a certain element of Trust from her - she is not stupid, she knows that even kneeling five paces from her with hands clasped where she can see them Slit could have her throat before she could move to get away - but that does not take away from what it Means. It simply reminds her that the Respect at work must be mutual in order for all of this to be beneficial to everyone - for it to be Better than what came Before.  
  
  
    Toast likes that so much that she Likes it in places inside herself that she's only recently begun to shed light upon.  
  
  
    Of course, now that Slit is First Lancer, the War Boys have decided that this is in fact a reverence - that this gesture of Slit's to Toast that she's calling the shots to put her at ease is more of a signal that he is ready to be turned to use by the First Driver's hand - and Toast sees no reason to disabuse them of this when it seems to be helping them draw new lines of hierarchy and tradition to help guide their behaviour into something more distilled than their previous wildness.  
  
  
    It's much easier to call the shots if you can actually be Heard over the screaming.  


 

   “Slit,” she greets him warmly, both with the privilege of familiarity established by now but also because Nux had spoken so much and so well of his lancer even before any of the sisters really knew him that none of them can think of Slit as anything other than his Name. Toast uses the Title he's been given by the other Boys only when making a public point, to weight her words more substantially.  
  
  
    “First Driver,” he Titles her as always although she gave him the use of her Name more than a hundred days ago, understanding better than her that the Boys respond to hierarchy - even hierarchy they themselves have had a hand in creating - and that upholding it with Words is important among them.  
  
  
    Toast's authority won't be diminished by Slit not Titling her, but it seems to put the other Boys at ease to see him show the respect due to her by their reckoning, and it solidifies his own position in their understanding.  
  
  
    Nux is a different matter - he detaches himself from Capable as they draw level with Toast and dives on his lancer with a yell, eliciting a sharp bark of delight from Slit and sparking a brief scuffle between them which looks more like Pup-tussling than any kind of proper Boy-fight.  
  
  
    It breaks the Hush, Boys getting back to their tasks, straightening out of salutes, the Ace ordering the fight he's overseeing to start up again, and when Nux has Slit pinned - although it's clear that they were both favouring Nux' bad leg - he presses their foreheads together and grins down at him, then scrabbles off so they can both rise as one.  
  
  
    Beside Toast, Capable is beaming, overjoyed to see the rift in this formidable team mending just as well as their injuries have been, and she reaches out to lightly touch her forehead to Slit's as well, something he's been allowing more as a gesture of affection than an honour bestowed by a Sister since he and Nux have been doing better together.  
  
  
    Capable does not do it the way they do - holding each other by the back of the neck, looking straight into each other's eyes, pushing into it - but it's not cautious, just less intense, her hand gentle on Slit's cheek and their eyes closed, Slit touching her only where their foreheads are joined.  
  
  
    Strangely, to Toast at least, this gesture does not seem to hold as much fascination for the Boys around them as the way Nux and Capable touch does, nor does the way Slit and Capable speak each other's Names in greeting softly spark the same murmurs of interest as always occur when Slit uses Toast's Name - something which usually happens in training; on Runs he calls her 'Boss', same as the Ace Titles Furiosa.  
  
  
    The only one who seems to be overly interested in it at all is Nux, who is alight with happiness and follows their gesture-greeting with a quick little sideways hug for Capable and the War Boy equivalent for Slit - a spirited bump of shoulders. He makes no secret of the fact that he's delighted that Slit and Capable are learning each other well and that Capable appreciates his lancer openly.  
  
  
    “Come to watch?” Slit asks them, and Capable shakes her head and smiles, taking Nux' hand.  
  
  
    “No, just thought we'd walk with Toast - Nux has been on that leg all day, wanted to get him Up to rest early,” she explains, and Slit nods.  
  
  
    “Can't drive with a scrapped leg,” he remarks, tone suggesting he's teasing Nux, who responds by shoving him without real harmful intent, avoiding the still-tender burn scars on Slit's chest.  
  
  
    Before, Toast never would have believed that War Boys could be affectionate, that they knew any kind of tenderness to give each other, but she Knows now that they can be and they do, that it's simply expressed differently than the love between she and her sisters. Observing Nux and Slit rebuild their partnership these past many days has taught Toast a great deal about the bonds between Boys, and what their partnerships really mean to them - that despite their only real goal being their own Deaths until so recently, they still form connections and always have.  
  
  
    “We wanted to ask you something,” Toast says, and the way he focuses on her, alert and intent, makes her oddly Proud.  
  
  
    “Boys have been giving Cheedo shiny stones,” she informs him, and Slit glances at Nux briefly and then replies,  
  
  
    “Nux told me. Says it's not bad.”  
  
  
    It's wary, like he's not sure Toast will appreciate the fact that Nux has Shared this with him, but Toast's nod is approving, and it drains some of the tension from both Boys' shoulders.  
  
  
   Before, Toast might not have understood, might have been annoyed by Nux telling tales of the sisters to other Boys, but now she knows that it would be stranger and more worrying if Nux did not confide in Slit the day to day of his life when they are apart. Before, that would have been seldom, but now, with their Time divided so differently, with so many new duties and distractions, and with their rift still raw, it is more important than ever for them to Share, to keep their partnership fresh and close.  
  
  
   Nux may be Raised now, and spend most of his free time with Capable and therefore also with the Sisters, but Slit is still his lancer - his only lancer. It would be unnatural if Nux kept the things he learns elsewhere from Slit, and their bond has been damaged enough. This is a good sign, a sign of healing, that Nux tells Slit about the things he learns from the Sisters, even if it might seem like something which should not have been Shared without their knowledge.  
  
  
   For this reason, Capable has long since warned them not to discuss things in Nux' presence if uncomfortable with the idea that Slit will eventually hear of it too. Toast is no longer irritated by this - in fact she has come to appreciate the expediency of the fact that what she tells one will soon be known by both but no others. Her initial wrath over it is not so easily purged from the Boys' memories, though, and so they do not relax until she tells them,  
  
  
    “Good,” and makes her approval of their Sharing known for certain.  
  
  
   “It's not bad,” she agrees,  
  
  
   “But it is confusing. Cheedo isn't sure why it's happening. I thought maybe it was a War Boy thing and you might know about it.”  
  
  
   “Giving shiny stones?” Slit asks, frowning,  
  
  
   “Not a War Boy Thing. Stones are useless.”  
  
  
   “But Cheedo liked the ones she got because they were pretty,” Nux remarks, and Slit repeats,  
  
  
   “Pretty?” as if distrustful of the Word.  
  
  
   “Shiny,” Nux explains,  
  
  
   “One of them looks like the Moon. 'S Dag's favourite.”  
  
  
   “We could ask, if you've got Names and you want to Know,” Slit offers Toast after considering Nux' words briefly, and Toast smiles.  
  
  
   “You don't have to,” she assures him,  
  
  
   “We're just curious - thought it was a War Boy Thing that Meant Something - and we don't have Names. It's just some Boys Cheedo helped heal.”  
  
  
   “Blot,” Nux supplies helpfully,  
  
  
   “She said the Moon-stone was from Blot.”  
  
  
   Slit makes a low, rumbling sound in his throat and then shrugs, and Toast says,  
  
  
   “It's alright if you don't Know. It's probably nothing Special.”  
  
  
   “We'll leave you to it,” Capable tells them, pulling at Nux' arm gently,  
  
  
   “Be Safe!”  
  
  
   Slit no longer stiffens in silent outrage when one of the sisters tells Toast this - he's been told by now that they mainly mean it as a warning to Toast not to push herself too hard rather than a warning for her to be careful of the Boys training her.  
  
  
   “Promise,” Toast assures her sister, and then asks Slit,  
  
  
   “What's today?”  
  
  
   In response he pulls a bone-handled blade from one of his belt-attachment pouches and smiles.  
  
  
   He hands it to her at arm's length, hilt-first.  
  
  
   Toast smiles, too.  
  


 


End file.
